CARTOON CAPERS

Two big vocal-grime albums hitting the streets this month, both featuring humorous cartoon sleeve designs, plenty of attitude and showcasing the cream of North and South talent.

First up, straight outta Manchester, it's the much anticipated Virus Syndicate long-player "The Work Related Illness". The fact that all production is handled by Mark One will be your guarantee of musical quality here, and Mark totally delivers with a brutal series of more

The debut album from the Virus Syndicate via forward thinking label Planet Mu. For all those who are familiar with Mark One’s mechanical sound you will not be disappointed. Sci Fi stridden beats are a plenty with that trade mark “wom wom” bass injection tearing through the album. Hip hop crossovers such as Major List Mc’s (ft. Fallacy) and Clockwork successfully deliver a more commercial edge to grime, all tinted with a Manchester rawness. more

Throughout the continuum of British electronic street music (rave, jungle, UK garage, and now grime) most attention has been focused on London. This is especially true with today's grime scene, where at times it is hard to pull your eyes off what's happening in East London (which is, admittedly, home to Dizzee Rascal, Roll Deep, Nasty Crew, Ruff Sqwad, Newham Generals, Jammek the World, plus about a billion others) to realize that there's a lot going more